I watched the pilot of Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip with my wife and when it was over, she said, "He's back." "He" being Aaron Sorkin, the Emmy Award-winning executive producer/writer of The West Wing. Sorkin, along with Emmy Award-winning executive producer/director of The West Wing Thomas Schlamme, bring us an intelligent look at the television industry.
To call Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip a "backstage look at a late night comedy show" does not do the show justice. This show examines television's creative talent, decision-making executives, arbiters of standards and practices, and the audience, and that’s in the first five minutes.
We open with Wes Mendell (Judd Hirsch) having an argument with Jerry Jones (Michael Stuhlbarg), the network censor, over a smartly written sketch that could potentially offend religious people. After the censor pulls rank, the controversial sketch is yanked and replaced with something unfunny and lame. When the show goes live, Wes walks on camera, dismisses the cast, and delivers a controversial rant similar to the "I'm as mad as hell" speech delivered by Peter Finch in the 1976 movie Network about the television industry.
"This show used to be cutting edge political and social satire, but it’s gotten lobotomized by a candy ass broadcast network hell-bent on doing nothing that might challenge their audience."
The show’s director (Timothy Busfield), under pressure from the censor, eventually cuts to the show’s opening titles. I have been saying a lot of this stuff Wes Mendell said on my blog for the past two years. If you don’t like what you see, like Wes Mendell said, "Turn off the TV". Why is this so hard to understand? When people say that Hollywood is out of touch with America, I know they mean the creative people in front of and behind the camera. My question is, are networks’ standards and practices people any more in touch with America?
Back to the show. Wes’ tirade gets him fired by the network chairman Jack Rudolph (Steven Weber). The recently hired network President Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet) rehires Matt Albie (Matthew Perry) and Danny Tripp (Bradley Whitford), who left the show four years ago over a disagreement about the same controversial sketch with network executives. To make things more complicated, Danny has a history of drug problems and Matt has recently ended a relationship with one of the show’s performers, Harriet Hayes (Sarah Paulson), who is also a devout Christian, but stood by the sketch (titled "Crazy Christians") because it was funny. The episode ends with Jordan telling Matt to air the sketch next week.
Article comments
1 - handyguy
I wish I agreed that it has water cooler potential. It's not bad, but based on the first two episodes I would call it disappointingly bland. The ex-lover angst between Matthew Perry and Sarah Paulson is particularly flavorless. And the 'satire' is pretty toothless as well. I do enjoy the fact that almost every character is given a chance to be an unreasonable jerk at least once so far.
2 - Bliffle
Well, it's worth tuning in, again. IMO. Precious little on the commercial networks is worth watching a second time. Maybe it's goals are low, maybe the jokes fail, sometimes. But it's a noble effort, and I wish the show good luck.
3 - Baronius
I don't know if the show is any good or not. I never watched West Wing, and I won't watch this. Both shows proved how bold they were by disparaging Christians on their first episode, and if they think that passes for daring, I wouldn't like them anyway. South Park may trash my religion, but they attack everything. I respect them.
Every review of this show talks about Sorkin, Sorkin, Sorkin. I guess David E. Kelley got this kind of press for a while, but not many others have. Sorkin doesn't have many accomplishments, but that doesn't matter, because he's Sorkin! He's bold! He dares to criticize TV and politicians! No one's done that before!
Then there's the matter of SNL-worship. Looking back on it, SNL skits were good about 1/4 of the time, and that was during the better seasons. Maybe 1/4 of the seasons were good. That's about 62 hours of good tv spread out across 30 years.
The bottom line: I'm rooting against this show like typhoid.
4 - Dimitra Ekmektsis
Well, I just read Lorne Michaels accused Sorkin of plagiarizing him, as well as did Sorkin's ex, Kristin somebody...okay, and I wrote a book about Sorkin paying me for sex and stealing my ideas. I am telling you, he is a thief and a fraud. He has so many enemies in Hollywood, something bad will happen to him soon. Watch...; and before I forget, check out my book at myspace and also on my website
thanks,
d.
5 - Joan Hunt
Congrats! This article has been placed on Advance.net
6 - Dimitra Ekmektsis
Fantastic, Joan! I looked at your blog and it's wonderful. Keep up the great work!
Dimitra
7 - Rusalka
Good stuff; the first three eps and this review. Sorkin is an intelligent and subtle writer. The Schlamme/Sorkin team is a pleasure. Now, if I could just figure out the off network scheduling for this show, I'd be happy.
8 - Robert
It's a boring show